WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday said that repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate for health insurance would increase the number of uninsured by 13 million in 2027.

The CBO, the nonpartisan budget-scoring agency, said in a statement on its website that eliminating the mandate in the Affordable Care Act, also often dubbed Obamacare, would also raise average premiums in the individual market by about 10 percent annually over next decade.

It said earlier on Wednesday that repealing the mandate would lower the deficit by $338 billion over the next decade.

Reporting by Eric Beech; Writing by Eric Walsh; Editing by David Alexander